Playhouse's actors are a breed apart

Chico and Porterhouse are four-legged stars of 'Legally Blonde: The Musical'

Jul. 10, 2013

Porterhouse is Rufus, Jill Ziegler is Paulette, Katy Merriman is Elle Woods, and Chico Benito Suave Cabron-Storey is Bruiser in 'Legally Blonde The Musical' at the Des Moines Community Playhouse. / Steve Gibbons/Special to the Register

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See ‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’

WHEN: Opening Friday, with shows at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through Aug. 4. Audiences can hear a preshow talk with the artistic staff 30 minutes before each show and stick around afterward on Friday and Saturday nights for live music in the lobby. (No music this Friday due to the traditional opening night party for the audience, cast and crew.) WHERE: Des Moines Community Playhouse, 831 42nd St. TICKETS: $21-$36 for adults, with discounts for seniors and students. A limited number of $21 “hot seats” are available two hours before the curtain. INFO:www.dmplayhouse.com

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If Chico Benito Suave Cabron-Storey breaks a leg, as one of his 671 Facebook friends recently suggested, it’s probably OK. He has three more.

The 10-pound Chihuahua stars as Bruiser in “Legally Blonde,” which opens Friday at the Des Moines Community Playhouse. He’s been rehearsing for about a month now, and showbiz suits him well. He even has the glued-on earr­ings and glittery pink toenails to prove it.

“He can be a little bit of a diva sometimes, but he loves it,” said his owner, Sara Storey Christiansen, who co-owns Premiere Pets in Clive. “Every time I take him to the Play­house, he wants to go directly inside and see everybody first and then he’ll go outside and potty. The other night, he was so exhausted from (the attention) that he passed out before a rehearsal. We tried to revive him with bacon.”

And when he finally awoke? “He went out on stage just like that, like nothing was up,” Chris­tiansen said.

Bruiser, you may re­member from the 2001 movie, belongs to plucky Harvard Law student Elle Woods (Katy Merriman), whose girl-power charms shake up the school’s hallowed halls and win her a few friends in the process. Among them is a hair­dresser named Paulette (Jill Ziegler), whose bulldog, Rufus, could eat Bruiser for break­fast.

If he could only muster the energy.

“If we stop walking for more than 30 seconds, he’ll just lie down and take a nap,” said Erin Bell, who owns the 56-pound lump of canine flesh named Porterhouse. (Ziegler has been working out in order to carry him when the script calls for it.)

Porterhouse has served as Drake University’s official mascot for the last five years and is “definitely used to the spotlight,” Bell said. “He’s very stoic. Nothing gets him worked up.”

But even he got bit by the drama bug. He posted a photo to his Twitter account, @DUPorterhouse, during an early rehearsal: “I rocked it. I even sat on command. I rule. There may have been treats offered in exchange for the sit.”